Green infrastructure in informal settlements through a multiple-level perspective
The aim of this paper is to highlight limits in the current conceptualisation and implementation of urban Green Infrastructure (GI), particularly in informal settlements. We propose a Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) that helps analyse and identify opportunities to overcome such limits. The article s...
Main Authors: | , , |
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Water Alternatives Association
2019-06-01
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Series: | Water Alternatives |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://www.water-alternatives.org/index.php/alldoc/articles/vol12/v12issue3/542-a12-2-25/file |
Summary: | The aim of this paper is to highlight limits in the current conceptualisation and implementation of urban
Green Infrastructure (GI), particularly in informal settlements. We propose a Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) that
helps analyse and identify opportunities to overcome such limits. The article starts by discussing the concept of GI
and proposes its definition through the principles of multifunctionality, interlinkages and exchange. Recognising
current gaps in implementation in the context of informal settlements, we argue for the better understanding of
the range of socio-political conditions which enable or impede GI practices. To reflect on these gaps, the article uses
MLP to explore persisting socio-ecological-infrastructural problems in water management, which could be
perpetuated through current GI practices. MLP is used as a heuristic framework to analyse influencing factors that
exist at multiple interconnected societal and bio-physical levels. The framework is applied to the city of São Paulo
in Brazil where traditional water management has resulted in tensions between social and ecological systems
between the regime (which encompasses institutional structures) and the niche (where innovations emerge, for
example through grassroots movements). Examples of community initiatives are used that demonstrate a
disconnection between top-down structures and everyday practices. We conclude that if GI presents the potential
to support a transition towards water management that benefits both social and ecological systems, further
characterisation of the concept is required. |
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ISSN: | 1965-0175 1965-0175 |